Friday, May 29, 2015

I'm really sorry that I took so long with this one but you people knocked me out with your good ideas that I wish I could give everyone a prize. (I can't do that)My decision making skills were so bad I had to recruit judges to help me out and I've also expanded the prizes from 3 to 5 just cause I wanted to reward more people. So with that aside, let's get to the winnersHonourable Mentions

Michael sent in the Holmes and YoYo bank vault, which I'm not convinced isn't a real rack toy.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

As a kid, I was pretty brand loyal to Atari, even getting into fisticuffs with an Intellivision fan once, which is pretty embarrassing to admit now.

I bought my 2600 with my own money (from menial labour gigs no less) and even though this Sears knock off was a better deal, there was some stigma attached to it that my 11 year old self couldn't shake.

Friday, May 22, 2015

It's hard to believe that toy makers thought the next merchandising blitz would come from a David Lynch film but that's exactly what happened in 1984. Dune got the full treatment with colouring books, bed sheets and of course a selection of action figures produced by LJN.
The movie wasn't particularly kid (or for that matter general public) friendly and as a result the spice warriors of Dune resided in the clearance aisle.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

I was pleased to track one of these down over the weekend as my dad sold them back in the 70s. I was always fascinated by the concept, especially the notion that the Hanna Barbera characters were chain smokers.As an adult, I'm going to venture a guess that this isn't an officially licensed product.

Monday, May 18, 2015

It's a holiday here today and technically that means I'm supposed to be assembling patio furniture and cleaning my garage. However, I couldn't resist posting this knock out ad from the summer of 1979 that I poured over for many an hour.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Found this cool ad from comic book in France, offering 50 Jumbo Goldorak Shogun Warriors in a contest. This guy was a European exclusive (although I found more than one here in Canada, never smart enough to buy one) and it's sweet to see so many of them in this advert.

These are well sculpted "army men" type characters (that remind me of similar figures produced in South American by Gulliver) with a gimmicky device that allowed the figures to fight. It's kind of low rent but also, absolutely charming. I'm very smitten with this line.

Activated Superheroes did receive a little bit of comic advertising in 1983, I remember being very excited about the idea of new figures but never saw them.

Eight Heroes were produced and four villains, all are excellent choices.

The amazing Bronze Age Marvel art on the packaging is probably a big help in this addiction. In addition to figure sets, they also created "combat sets" which included generic stuff like trucks and army men.

This is the kind of ridiculous toy you'd see when your family went on vacation, displayed amidst the pails and inflatable items at a "Stedman's" type store.

Activated Superheroes seemed to have had very limited distribution and sales, they are difficult to find on the collector market (a lot of people don't know what they are when they find them) and boxed sets like these are very pricey affairs.

If you collect these and want to share your input or photos of your stuff, I'd love to hear from you. kid70s*at*gmail.com

Friday, May 08, 2015

Reproduction is was a series of black and white line drawings of toy products provided to vendors for newspaper advertisements. It is something of a lost artform in this digital age and something I both admire and collect.

I've compiled a gallery of repro art for Mattel's 1975 Big Jim line, as I'm pretty fond of the guy. It's a great look at the whole assortment for that year, including the birth of the P.A.C.K!